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disaster footage, even from faraway places, can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids

children don't have to be geographically close to a disaster to feel anxiety and fear.

by maija kappler

published feb 25, 2022

3 minute read

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3 minute read

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too much disaster footage can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids

scary news reports and graphic images can ramp up children's stress levels. getty

children can develop post-traumatic stress after being exposed to news about a disaster — even one that’s happening on the other side of the world. a new study published in the journal nature looks at the psychological impact that watching or reading about disaster can have on children. it found that physical proximity is a much less important factor than previously believed.

“a once-dominant theory of disaster mental health, sometimes called the “bull’s eye model,” proposed that the negative mental health effects of a disaster were directly related to how close the person was to the centre of the event — the bull’s eye,” two of the study’s authors, jonathan s. comer and anthony steven dick, wrote in the washington post. “but more and more studies are finding that the negative mental health effects of disasters extend far beyond the immediate disaster area.”

the study looked at the aftermath of hurricane irma, a 2017 category 5 hurricane that hit the southeastern u.s. and many caribbean states in september 2017. irma caused widespread damage and killed at least 134 people, most of them in florida, georgia and north carolina.

researchers studied families in gainesville and miami families in florida, as well as families in nearby charleston, south carolina, who had been directly impacted by the hurricane. they also spoke to demographically-similar families in san diego, on the other side of the country, who didn’t have a personal connection to the hurricane. they also spoke to almost 400 children between the ages of nine and 11, both in the year leading up to hurricane irma and the months following it.

direct exposure was, predictably, the biggest indicator of stress: the children who faced risk to their lives, health, and housing and who had to evacuate or reckon with loss due to the hurricane’s damage, had the highest incidence of post-traumatic stress symptoms. and there wasn’t a big difference between the children who already had anxious tendencies and the ones who didn’t: symptoms were similar, even across children with different baseline anxiety levels.

but media exposure was a big factor, too. scary news reports and graphic images can ramp up children’s stress levels. a 24-hour news cycle exacerbates this problem, as disaster images are more likely to be shown more frequently, the study’s authors say.

in the days leading up to hurricane irma, one-third of the respondents (32 per cent) said they checked online news about the storm almost every hour in the lead-up of the storm. almost as many (31 per cent) said they watched at least an hour of hurricane-related news coverage every day, and 19 per cent engaged with social media posts about the hurricane several times a day.

researchers found that news exposure was equally distressing to children who engaged with it, whether or not they were at risk. “the effects of exposure to anticipatory self-reported media on child pts [post-traumatic stress] were robust and uniform across youth, even among those who were over 4,500 kilometres from the storm’s path,” researchers wrote.

the study participants who had a specific response in the amygdala, the part of the brain that recognizes threats and processes fear, had the strongest association between media exposure and symptoms of post-traumatic stress. when looking at scared facial expressions, those same children had reduced activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, the part of the brain that reduces heightened emotions. people with that particular “brain activation profile,” as the study calls it, were more likely to develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

while this study focused specifically on hurricanes, it lines up with previous research about the impact of exposure to news about disasters more generally: it causes undue stress and anxiety in kids. it’s a good idea for parents to be mindful of what they’re watching or reading while their children are around, the study’s authors said in the washington post.

“while it is important for parents to get periodic updates about impending storms or fires, extended exposure to such content rarely provides additional actionable information,” they wrote. “intermittent check-ins of breaking news may be appropriate, but the tv and social media do not have to be on constantly. it’s easy to routinely unplug, and it’s good for the mental health of children.”

maija kappler is a reporter and editor at healthing. you can reach her at mkappler@postmedia.com

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disaster footage, even from faraway places, can trigger post-traumatic stress in kids

children don't have to be geographically close to a disaster to feel anxiety and fear.

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